No series was better at producing memorable theme episodes than Community. From paintball to zombies to exploring parallel timelines, Community’s legacy is sitcom innovation. In a medium that often rewards conformity, Dan Harmon’s comedy about a gang of misfit community college students continuously subverted the traditional rules of television structure in order to craft something truly original. Community was at its absolute best when it was allowed to color outside the lines, but despite the show’s affinity for ingenuity, the series also produced a number of traditional Christmas episodes… or at least as traditional as Community gets, anyway.

There’s no such thing as a bad Community Christmas episode, so we’re ranking these holiday treats from best to… slightly better than best.

Sure, the much-maligned “gas leak” season isn’t Community at its best, but lost in the real-life turmoil of Dan Harmon’s exit and Chevy Chase’s… Chevy Chaseness is the Jim Rash-penned “Basic Human Anatomy” and underrated “Herstory of Dance.”

Season 4’s “Intro to Knots,” which centers on the study group basically kidnapping Professor Cornwallis (Malcolm McDowell) to avoid a failing grade, is a solid episode. Abed’s Die Hard runner is fun, Jim Rash adds some much needed levity to the whole kidnapping of it all (“Jeffrey, I know you’re in there. I can smell you!), and any episode that includes a Rizzoli and Isles joke is a-okay in my book.

“Intro to Knots” isn’t Community at its best, but it’s still one of the better episodes of Season 4.

If you haven’t watched Season 1’s “Comparative Religion” recently, do it. Do it right now. Season 2 is the best top-to-bottom season of Community, but Season 1 isn’t far behind. While the show had yet to morph into the Community we now know and love in “Comparative Religion,” it’s still extremely funny, relying on more grounded humor as opposed to the more absurd comedy in later seasons.

Photo: NBC

Anthony Michael Hall goes from being bullied in the ’80s to being a bully in the 2000s as he portrays Mike, a meathead who challenges Jeff to a fistfight. The episode is best remembered for the study group banning together to battle Greendale’s gang of ruffians and, of course, the “Christmas Troy” tag.

I completely understand if “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas” tops your own personal list of holiday-themed Community episodes. Along with It’s a Wonderful Life and A Charlie Brown Christmas, Community’s stop motion classic is required seasonal viewing. It’s an episode so unique, so distinctly Community, that it’s achieved cult status.

For the uninitiated, Abed’s mom cancels her yearly holiday visit, which leads to him perceiving the entire group as being stop-motion animated. The episode’s pro-friendship resolution is sure to warm even the coldest of hearts, and Abed actually does the impossible when he discovers the true meaning of Christmas: “The meaning of Christmas is the idea that Christmas has meaning, and it can mean whatever we want.”

The evisceration of Glee is outstanding, sure, but there’s just so much to love here. Taran Killam is terrific as deranged glee club instructor Cory “Mr. Rad” Radison. One by one, Radison lures the study group into joining the glee club to save the Christmas pageant, resulting in some of Community’s best musical moments: